EMERGENCY £2.3m plans to save a bowel screening and endoscopy unit were approved by hospital bosses yesterday.

Accreditation was removed from Horton General Hospital’s endoscopy unit following an inspection by the national watchdog in March because of failure to fully separate patients of different sexes and decontamination problems.

However, the Joint Advisory Group (JAG) on GI Endoscopy deferred its judgement for six months to give hospital bosses a chance to replace the outdated decontamination washers and instal better screens.

Clinical services director Paul Brennan told the Oxford University Hospital NHS Trust’s board of directors that not being able to provide endoscopies would be a “significant problem”.

He added: “There are two issues of significance. One relates to same sex standard and the second to the reliability and configuration decontamination facilities.

“Clearly, it has been a significant issue if we were not able to provide an endoscopy service.”

Around 85 patients a week use the unit for endoscopies and it is also used for screening for bowel cancer.

Initial £4.1m plans were deemed too expensive because of the high cost of providing temporary endoscopy services at the Banbury Hospital.

However, the board approved cheaper £2.36m plans to refurbish the unit with pods of three walls and curtain doors so that different sexes can be kept separate.

While the unit closes for four months a temporary £310,000 mobile theatre will be set up at the John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford, where non-urgent patients will be transferred.

The board also approved £16.5m plans to build a new radiotherapy unit at Great Western Hospital in Swindon, to help patients in West Oxford and Wiltshire.